Mayner

I don't know if there are verified 90+ mph timings for members of the 800 Class or other Irish steam locos. Irish steam records are mainly based on stopwatch recordings of runs by journalists and enthusiast "timers". In the steam era there was little need for high speed running in the absence of competing routes apart from Belfast-Londonderry and Belfast-Newcastle, in the South average train speeds were scheduled with relatively low 42.3mph Kingsbridge-Cork, 26.9 mph Kingsbridge Waterford, 33.6mph Broadstone-Galway. The most important trains were the cross-Channel Mails which were heavily loaded and called at all the principal stations, the ordinary all-stations passenger trains were even slower. The Irish steam record is held by a 1934 non-stop Dublin-Cork special (for the newly appointed American Ambassador) with a recorded average speed of 85.6 mph between Ballybrophy and Portlaoise. 402 may have reached or exceeded 90 at some stage between the two stations. Cecil J. Allen a British railway journalist appears to have been invited by the GSR to record the run. average speed exceeded 70mph between Limerick Junction and Kingsbridge. The loco was 402 a 2 cylinder 4-6-0 driven by Mark Foley with 3 coaches (95 tons gross). 402 was considered to be the best of the rebuilt 400 Class similar in capability to a GWR Saint or Southern King Arthur. 800 is reported to have achieved 92mph during a demonstration run in July 1939 There is a log of a run of 800 on an up Cork Mail between Portlaoise and Kingsbridge in Aug 1939 with 450 Tons in O.S. Nocks Irish Steam with a maximum recorded speed of 76.5 mph at Hazlehatch. O S Nock was particularly impressed with 800s acceleration on the climb out of Cork but the crew ran into problems with a sticking regulator valve near the top of the bank out of Cork and a patch of poor quality coal during the middle of the journey. A number of 001 Class were uprated to 1650hp this was to ensure that certain trains including Heuston-Tralee passenger trains could keep time within the existing line limits of 70mph on the Dublin-Cork line and 60mph Mallow-Tralee lines.

I guess its the greater mass but large scale locos and stock tend to be more fragile than OO or N. I had to re-build the pilot beam of 348 after she fell from a raised section of line about 7-8 months ago.

More or less finished tracklaying & power-bus wiring on the new layout. Remaining tasks to commission DCC control system include installing accessory decoders to control pointwork, Loconet cables and Digitrax UR91 radio receivers General view Fort/Port James? or main line section of layout. SD45s are on RW6 "The Paper Train" a high priority freight that conveyed newsprint from Canadian & on-line paper mills to the major Eastern US Cities. A pair of RS3 switchers & an RS11 wait their next assignment at the roundhouse while Baldwin Sharks 1205 & 1216 are working a local freight. This section of baseboard will have a curved MDF fascia profiled to match the ground contours and the backscene will be formed in a similar manner with a painted backdrop of the Adirondack mountains. H9N will run along the front of the layout past the foreground buildings before crossing the railroad with a 1930s concrete overpass. I originally intended to use low relief industrial and commercial buildings in the background, but have decided on a combination of steeply sloping tree covered hills and rockfaces in the background, I will probably trim the loco shed back into a semi-low relief structure. General view looking South. The backscene will follow the line of the foam track underlay, loco shed will be trimmed back to fit. Turntable is Peco, Spur tracks at the south end of the yard will be used mainly to store empty box cars for paper traffic from the local paper mills, ore cars/hoppers for traffic in connection with iron ore traffic. General view looking North. Foreground buildings Depot parking lot? A more open foreground may work better visually and be a lot less work than detailing all those buildings. I will probably replace the depot with one based on an actual depot on the actual line.

Oops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Classical mishap while turning 348 yesterday just as 464 was waiting to be flagged into the yard. 348 just rolled forward as she was being turned, luckily she did not roll the other way and fall onto the floor.

A Civil Engineer once told me a 150 year old retaining wall would not "stand up" on paper. To a large degree the slope angle depends on whether you are forming a cutting or an embankment. Depending on ground conditions cuttings may have steeper slopes than embankments formed from fill material.

Looking well Ken. The later DWWR/DSER 2-4-0 & 2-4-2T had a business line appearance with high pitched boilers and large side tanks very little of the dainty finesse of 458 Class 4-4-2T about them. It almost looks like some one in Inchacore or possibly an ex-DSER draftsman had a hand in designing the 670 Class 0-6-2T, which was basically a superheated passenger tank version of a J15.

Ran what was probably the last trains of 2018 yesterday, mainly because I needed to use the staging yard as a workbench for some work on a new N gauge layout, but that's another story. I have been experimenting with JMRI Panel Pro ---Operations to create manifests and switch lists for freight trains in preparation for regularish operating sessions. Seems to work despite the limited number of cars with trains loading to 70-80% of capacity, one of the advantages of large scale is that its easy to read the numbers of the cars Manifest for a way freight (pick-up goods) train spends a lon-ng time of the road! Yesterdays schedule required 3 locos K27s 2-8-2 463 & 464 for the long distance freights, C19 2-8-0 for switching and trip working out of Jackson City and all available freight cars. 348 has cleared the yard and made up two freights for departure and waiting to depart with a caboose hop to collect stock cars and gondolas from towns further up the line. 463 has backed on to her train on the departure road 464 is coming off shed and will work the next westbound freight. 348 passing Arboles on caboose hop will pick up stockcars on return. I have got to sort our some screening between railway and grotty shed junk pile in background. Meanwhile 463 is working her way westwards with a train of stockcars and boxcars. Trains carrying livestock and perishable traffic had a higher priority than general freight traffic. 348 has turned and is now working back with a train of gondolas and a flatcar. The dwarf wall includes a large broken plant pot which looks a bot like part of an old furnace or coke oven. The plantings in the background were added about 3-4 years ago, the large trees were supposed to be slowing dwarf plants! 348 has attached the 3 stockcars to her train which puts her well (60%)over the load limits for the high line in the background for the run to Placerville (the staging) 464 & 348 ready to depart Jackson City. On arrival 348 uncoupled from her train, switched a cut of 4 cars stored on the main line to the departure road clearing the main for 464 to couple on to the recently arrived train. 464 then departed followed later by 348 (didn't want to chance leaving her outside overnight!) The pattern of operation is similar to the DRGW Black Canyon line during its final years of operation, 2-8-0s were the heaviest power allowed through the relatively level Black Canyon section on account of light bridges and trestles with 2-8-2s workking trains at the eastern and western end of the line. Starting to put the trains away! Large Scale staging tracks lower level, baseboards for 4mm Irish layout at intermediate level storage above and below. N Gauge baseboard plonked on top of large scale turntable.

I expect to start shipping the kits in late January. There was a glitch at the photo engravers that required re-work on about 60% of the chassis frets and I am awaiting a package from Alan Gibson Workshop in the UK who have been snowed under with trade orders from Warley and other pre-Christmas exhibitions in the UK. For those that want to build the late GSR/CIE version of the loco I have amended the loco body fret to include slotted valences and have omitted the MGWR canopy cab.

Seems to be intended for Dublin-Rotterdam services. The owners CLdN is based in Luxembourg and claim to use rail to transport freight in Ireland, the UK and across mainland Europe. https://www.cldncargo.com/documents/Brochure CLdN Cargo.pdf. Interestingly Irish Ferries have recently decided to transfer it Rosslare-Cherbourg WB Yeats sailings to Dublin Port apparently because Dublin is likely to be more profitable on account the substantially higher volume of traffic. Will be interesting to see how Stena and P&O Ferries react to Brexit, will they introduce Super Ferries like CLdN & Irish Ferries for direct European services or continue to treat their existing routes as a cash cow until their ships require replacement. JHB A bit like Belfast and Larne, Waterford and Rosslare Ports are too close together in an era of shipping line amalgamations and rationalisation and the development of larger ships. In a way its difficult to see a long term future for Waterford as a container port unless Cork and Dublin become highly congested or a new container shipping company enters the Irish Market, similarly Rosslare's long term role is likely to be restricted to RO-RO operations to the UK and possibly Europe. Establishing a railfreight terminal at Rosslare is likely to be a White Elephant and more seriously would be politically unpalatable in Waterford as it would potentially lead to an early closure of the Belview Container terminal Both Cork and Dublin container ports have the advantage of serving large cities directly without the need for long distance road or rail transfer railing freight from Cork or Dublin to Waterford or even Rosslare Ports offers no advantage in terms of environmental emissions compared to shipping direct from Cork or Dublin to the UK or the Continent.

Bit strange celebrating Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere though we are promised rain and thunder storms over the Christmas Hopefully might get to play trains once I have assembled daughters Lego and

Does anyone have an idea of how current container volumes through Waterford Port compare with the 80s and 90s while Bell Lines was in operation? Bell effectively used rail to divert traffic away from Dublin, Belfast and Cork ports and competed with the large shipping companies by operating direct services to UK and Continental Ports rather than land-bridging across the UK The demise of Bell and must have been welcome news to Dublin, Belfast and Cork ports and the major shipping companies. Will be interesting to see how Waterford Port fares after Brexit, with a shorter sea route for Irish exports to the continent compared with Dublin could help restore its competitive advantage as a port. Internationally deep sea container traffic is moving away from railway owned terminals to inland ports usually operated as joint ventures between property companies and ports. The joint venture attracts tenants by providing serviced sites with good road and rail access and competitive shipping rates. Perhaps someone needs to talk to the IDA and the Port Companies

Mr Fry's model railway was dismantled following his death in the 1970s The layout that operated at Malahide Castle was a 1980s interpretation built CIE apprentices under the supervision by Thomas Tighe rather than experienced modelers Certain aspects of the modeling especially scenery and rolling stock were more akin to 1930s tinplate models and considered to be crude compared to the original Fry Models and 1980s modeling standards I understand that wear and tear on wheels, motors, gears and bearing was a significant issue on the Malahide Castle Layout and locos, stock and probably track in need of replacement after 20+ years constant use before the layout was dismantled. The original locos and stock were unsuitable for sustained exhibition running and were displayed separately to the railway at the castle and also appeared at railway exhibitions. Personally I think the best approach would be to display the original Fry models and certain aspects of Mr Tighe's layout in a permanent exhibition and build a new layout in the spirit of Fry's Irish International Railway and Tramway system (which featured Irish and Continental trains and trams running on the one layout) with replicas of the original Fry locos, stock and structures.

3D prints tend to have either a texture like rough cast plastering or a layer cake effect as the plastic is deposited in layers. In a way Shapeways WSF would be an excellent material for the traditional Irish cottage, farmhouse, bungalow or semi-detached or terraced house with a lime wash or cement plaster finish.

JHB It might be worth while checking out Rapid Prototyping companies in Dublin. While everyone tends to think of Shapeways, there are likely to be companies in Ireland that provide rapid prototyping services to businesses. Inspire 3D may be able to advise you on the costs and limitations of 3D printing. http://www.inspire3d.ie/services/rapid-manufacturing-rapid-prototyping/

The JM Design Tin vans were originally intended to combine etched brass sides with a plastic or resin body shell and chassis manufactured using high end 3D printing technology from my own CAD work. But ended up as conventional brass kits as a plastic or resin body shell was uneconomic due to a combination of the limitations of the 3D printing technology and cost/ the low level of demand for Irish coach or wagon kits. Richies £500 excluding CAD work for a 6w coach is in line with the original set up costs for casting a coach body shell. As far as I recall the mould was good for 20-30 castings with a unit cost of around £20 per casting which swung the economics rapidly round in favour of a conventional kit. The other issue is producing an acceptable model from the CAD work is likely to require a number of attempts even for an experienced designer, sometimes issues with the limitations of the process, material and CAD work do not become obvious until you produce the completed model, after-all Rapid Prototyping using 3D printing was developed as a low cost way to check that the prototype is ok before tooling up for production. Bureau like Shapeways and I Materialise are a relatively low cost way of establishing whether a model is ok before committing to buying a 3D printer or commissioning a manufacturer to produce a model from your CAD work in resin or injection moulded plastic.

Eoin's detail is spot on & should prevent any long term problems at floor level.

Driving rain tracking in between the concrete slab and floor seems to be the biggest risk with your shed, the floor slab appears to be high enough off the ground to minimise the risk of rainwater water splash causing problems. The flashing detail to the barges is not great and could be improved, on the plus side corrugated iron and weatherboard are very effective cladding systems and will last indefinitely once they are installed correctly and adequately maintained, our house was built in 1924 most of the weatherboard and timber framing is original, original roofing iron replaced after 70-80 years I would look seriously at adding another strip of weather board (rustic or shiplap) or ripping a strip of treated plywood to provide a min 50mm overlap between the weatherboard and the concrete slab as detailed below. If its to last any length of time pine weatherboard should be painted with a paint system such as Dulux Weathershield or Wattyl Solaguard. (Primer and min 2 coats) Detail are from NZS Standard for Timber Frame Building so the timber sections and concrete slab design is heavier but the basic principals can be applied to a garden shed. A purpose made barge flashing and closing in the end of the ridge will provide better protection to the gables than the current arrangement. The correct metal flashings are fairly inexpensive. Rilco Roofing Products or Tegral should be able to point you in the right direction.

As far as I remember TMD loco kits were supplied with a boiler formed from brass tube, I did not realise the 7mm J15 was supplied with a boiler. The top of the firebox and boiler are flush on locos with the 4'4" boiler, I usually use a strip of scrap brass curved to the inside diameter of the boiler to provide a seating for the firebox/to reinforce the firebox/boiler joint on locos with round topped boilers. I have not noticed the issue of the boiler being higher at the smoke box with my earlier locos, I still have to assemble the smokebox for one of the new locos. I like the idea of a removable boiler for painting, I am planning to fit the firebox as a sliding fit into the spectacle plate at the cab end with the existing bolt fixing at the smokebox end. I forgot what I did with my earlier kits the footplates and boilers have not been separated in over 20 years. The builder of the "white engine" cut the firebox off flush inside the cab and may have soldered firebox to spectacle plate and running board.

Having re-built the chassis from the white engine as a replacement chassis for 193, I thought that it was better to crack on with erecting the frames for the other locos using a combination of SSM frames 101 Class frames and the heavier frames fitted to some superheated locos including 196 by the GSR in the 1930s. I am planning to fit CBS (continuous beam suspension) to the loco with the replacement frames and fit beam compensation to the other two locos. Although http://www.clag.org.uk/pannier-csb.html CLAG have published instruction for fitting CSB to the GWR dean Goods and Pannier Tanks which had the same coupled wheel base as the 101 Class fitting CBS to the SSM chassis was likely to be challenging, I was unable to locate the forward fulcrum points for the beam as the chassis was fore-shortened and the turned brass frame spacers would obstruct the movement of the suspension beams. Cutting out the hornblock openings is a significant task on a loco with a suspension system. The Monteiths (well worth visiting their brewery when visiting Greymouth on the West Coast South island) was to steady the nerves. I made a new saw table from a piece of hardwood moulding. I bought the Eclipse saw as a teenager many moons ago, blades I buy in bulk from Micro-Mark in the USA. The cutouts are partly etched through to aid cutting out. I clamp in vice then snap off the remaining section once I have cut through the sides, then dress the edge with a flat file. Chassis for superheated loco (designed 2012) has reinforced section over rear axle and conventional fold up frame spacers. I drilled out the frames for CBS fulcrum points using High Level Jig in conjunction with CLAG High Level Pannier instructions. I had to reduce the distance between leading axle and fulcrum point from 13.5 to 11mm due to foreshortened chassis to suit SSM cosmetic leading frames. Line up of frames. Turned spacers fitted to SSM Chassis, I will fit reinforcing strips above trailing axle hornblock cut outs similar to those fitted to my other locos, I will test fit motor and gearbox before fitting additional frame spacers. Superheated loco chassis set up with home made chassis alignment jig. Chassis from above the ashpan sides fits inside the frame cut outs at the rear, there don't appear to be frame cut outs or lightening holes in the area between the leading and driving axles. I will probably half etch the ashpan detail with the frames in a production etch Based on photos I took of 186 at Whitehead about 25 years ago. Line up of frames for 4 locos, the "white engine" or or possibly 193 may be rebuilt as superheated locos. I am planning to build the superheated loco as 101 which retained its original light frames. I don't remember if I allocated a number to the "white engine", it would be a good candidate for a re-build as the original builder cut off the firebox inside the cab and I am planning to replace the direct reversing lever with the linkage type surplus from the 229 build.

I built a pair of 121s using the MIR whitemetal kits and Athearan chassis about 20 years ago, the Rails 3D printed body builds i to a better model despite the limitations of the 3D printing process. The 3D printing process seems to be a good way to go for layout stock that fits the 2' rule where the viewer is looking at the entire train than an individual model. Kirley recently built some convincing 4w IE timber wagons using the Rails 3D printed body in conjunction with old Triang-Hornby Presflo wagon underframes. The correct bogie sideframes makes a huge difference to the 121 compared with the stock Athearn sideframes. Whitemetal MIR 121 c-2000 Athearn SW1500 chassis. My standard of painting an d lining still has a long way to go

Definitely seems appears to be a sequel to "Narrow Gauge Album", the original is definitely worth while seeking out in second hand bookstores or Amazon for its account of the early days of the preservation movement and stories of railway operation. Following on on Noel's suggestion a series of pictorials of lines in the Midlands would be nice, perhaps combining colour and black and white photos with condensed versions of J P O'Dea's John O'Meara's, and N J McAdams IRRS papers would really bring the operation of these lines in the 1950s & 60s to life. The IRRS papers are very useful from a modelling perspective usually including details of motive power and traffic patterns and station track layouts. John O'meara published papers on the Meath Line and Tuam Branch, NJ McAdams The Mayo Line and J P O'Dea just about everywhere else including the Banagher & Ballaghdereen Branches The more recent Ian Allen/Midland Publishing Irish Railway Pictorial series contain high quality photos through from the steam age to the present including albums on the Great Southern Railways, Great Northern Railways, a number of regional and narrow gauge albums.

During the 1950s the GNR introduced the "Derry Vacuum" Dublin-Strabane-Foyle Road express goods service for urgent overnight traffic to Donegal. The Vacuum appears to have been initially an AEC railcar set hauling a couple of fitted vans and container wagons, before morphing into the Derry Goods of the UTA/NIR era. This seems to have been the first fully fitted express freight train in Ireland the precursor of the modern Liner Train running close to passenger train speeds with power braking on all wagons. JHB may be able to correct me but Dundalk appears to have been what the Americans call a division point for Dublin-Belfast operation with NIR crews operating cross border freight services. This would have been tied up with pre-1993 Customs examination and working arrangements with the CIE & NIR Unions. This lead to trip working from Dundalk to Adelaide with quite varied wagon consists (keg, container, bulk cement, fertiliser in the one train) compared to the more uniform wagons consists south of the Border. One of the more interesting workings were loose coupled trains carrying Harp Larger traffic between Dundalk and Adelaide operated into the early 80s. These trains included the unusual combination of modern 4w keg wagons and 30t brake vans. Loose coupled operation ceased when the keg traffic was transferred from the station to Barrack St Yard. The early 90s was probably the busiest time for cross border freight operation when Freightliners Ltd ceased their Holyhead-Dublin sailings and attempted to serve Dublin by a rail connection off its Liverpool-Belfast sailings. This resulted in Freightliners chartering two daily return Belfast-Dublin liner trains to handle traffic to and from the South.

Tony: The different levels make it much more visually interesting compared to a conventional flat baseboard and helps to make sense of the unusual and distinctive split level goods/shed grain store. The track that leads from the y turnout into the goods shed should be long enough for a loco and at least one or two wagons otherwise it will be difficult to run round while shunting the yard. The low relief goods shed looks really effective and there is no doubt that the model is based on Omagh. I would be inclined to to curve the backscene behind the shed rather than leave it at a 90 angle.

For years I thought that I had imagined seeing a big blue steam loco until I saw a colour slide of 171 about 10 years later and borrowed a copy of Colin Boockocks irish Railway Album from the library complete with several photos of 207. Ours was firmly a car and bus family, my first train ride was around 69 or 70 in a compartment coach with wooden paneling behind a black noisy diesel from Killiney to Tara Street.

That's interesting about 207 still working Belfast-Dublin excursions in the summer of 65. My early railway memories possibly earlier than 65 was of a big blue steam loco leading a long train across the viaduct at Gormanstown Strand and dark green trains without an engine at the front.